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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

I had one heck of a time installing the nVidia drivers on my system, so I thought I would post the steps that worked for me, so others could be spared the pain. I got these instructions from several sources. For the record, these instructions worked on a GeForce 4 MX440 and a GeForce FX5200. They were performed on a clean install of FC 3, and all actions were performed as root. The latest nVidia driver(NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6629-pkg1.run) was used. I have an AMD Sempron 2600. These instructions will not work unless you have the development packages installed. It has been reported that these instructions do not work on TNT2 cards. However, I have heard there is a work around, but I'm not sure what it is.
Do not type the quotes around the command line commands. These are only there to separate what is to be typed from the rest of the instructions.

READ AND PRINT OUT THIS PAGE BEFORE STARTING

1)Download the latest nVidia drivers to a directory of your choice

2)Edit the /etc/inittab manually using a text editor. Change the line that reads "id:5:initdefault:" to read "id:3:initdefault:" . Certain tutorials will instruct you to use the telinit 3, init 3, or even runinit 3 command. These commands didn't work for me, though. However, they may work for other people.

3)Reboot your system. You will end up in a command prompt environment. DO NOT PANIC. This is what it is supposed to do. Use the "cd" command to move to the directory you downloaded the driver to. For example, if you downloaded the driver to the /root/ folder, then run the command "cd /root/".

4)Now type "sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6629-pkg1.run".

5)Accept the license agreement. Now it will probably say that it could not find the kernel source. You can allow the installation program to look for the source online, but it won't work unless the servers are updated. Now it will say that it needs to compile its own kernel. Please allow it to do so. This is the part of the installation were the development tools are required.

6)Now run the command "cd /etc/X11"

7)Next type "vim xorg.conf". This opens the text editor. Use the arrow keys to move the cursor. Press the Insert key, and on the bottom, either "INSERT" or "REPLACE" will be shown. If INSERT is selected, then when you type the text you types will be inserted before the selected character. If replace is selected, then what you type will replace the selected character(s). Look for a line that reads "Driver "nv"", or "Driver "vega"". Change it to read "Driver "nvidia"". Now go scroll up until you get to "Section "Module"". Make sure that one of the lines between"Section "Module"" and "EndSection" says "Load "glx"". If the lines "Load "dri"" or "Load "GLcore" are present, then comment them out by placing a # at the beginning of the line.

8) To exit and save changes, push esc. Now type ":wq" and hit enter. If you mess up you can quit without saving by hitting esc and then typing ":q!".

9)Now that you are back to command prompt, type "rpm -e --nodeps xorg-x11-Mesa-libGL"
NOTE: If you update "xorg-x11" package with up2date or yum, you will have to do the above command again.

10)Now run "modprobe nvidia"

11)Now run "cp -a /dev/nvidia* /etc/udev/devices
Allow it to overwrite what is there.

12)Now run "chown root.root /etc/udev/devices/nvidia*"

13) Almost there, all that's left is to edit /etc/inittab back to what it was. To do this, type "cd /etc/". Now type "vim inittab" . Change the "3" back to a "5".

hello, i have a conectiva 10 distro here and my kernel is 2.6.11. My problem is that there is no supplied not precompiled drivers for my kernel version and i use a PRECOMPILED kernel so when it tries to build the driver it cant find theconfig options used to build the system. I have all sources installed. So, is there a way to find the config files and have the installer read them? thanksfor any h help.

Am using x86_64 version of FC3 and had a few troubles post install. My PCIe (6600 256mb) was the problem. I used your method to install driver ver.7167 (as all others gave me artifacts etc.) and it pretty much worked, but a few amendments were necessary...

'rpm -e --nodeps xorg-x11-mesa-libGL' returned an error, could not use.

Added 'modprobe nvidia' to /etc/rc.d/rc.local

Reboot had to be via 'shutdown -r now'

But your thread helped immensely, so thanks !

by bluetardis81 on Fri, 2006-02-10 05:15

I have been looking for this information for a long time. I spent 4 hrs trying to get to the correct run level so I could install the drivers.i changed run levels several times but the system would become unstable. I never thought about setting the run level for boot time to fix the problem. I wanted to run FC3 but I went back to vector. Driver install for vector was real easy
Bluetardis81